On my way to the National Museum in Tokyo, I had a quick look at the National Museum of Western Art, which is also located in Ueno Park. I was surprised to see banners displaying "**** for the world heritage!". The **** was in Japanese only, but must be 'National Museum of Western Art', as an image of that building is depicted on the banner also.

So the Japanese are still hoping that a Le Corbusier nomination will be accepted at the third attempt. At the last deferral in 2011, ICOMOS strongly advised cutting down the serial nomination from 19 to 3. These final 3 all are located in France. But it left a glimmer of hope also for the Museum in Tokyo, as it "is said to have been hugely inspirational in terms of impact on Japanese post-war architectural development".

The museum was still closed when I walked by in the early morning. I only shot some photos from behind gates, in the pouring rain. Its exterior I did not find very remarkable. This is the third of the Corbusier long list that I saw, after the Casa Curutchet in Argentina and the (very fine) Villa Jeanneret in Switzerland. I quite like the idea of the global spread of the works of one architect, so I hope something will come of it eventually.